Target data breach: Wisconsin child support payments stolen

A handful of people who receive child support through the state of Wisconsin had money stolen from their debit accounts after Target's data breach last year, officials said.

Joe Scialfa, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, said nearly 4,000 debit cards belonging to people who receive child support from Wisconsin were compromised in the breach.

The Target breach took place between approximately Nov. 27 and Dec. 18, 2013, and affected 40 million debit and credit card accounts nationwide.

EPPIC, the company that manages the debit MasterCards for the state, issued new cards to all affected card holders on Jan. 9 and contacted them by letter and by phone to let them know new cards were issued, Scialfa said.

Former Milwaukee resident Anita Lichtenberger said she found out she'd been a victim in January when she made a routine call to EPPIC to find out the balance on her card. Instead of the normal automated system that tells her the balance, she was transferred to an EPPIC rep, who informed her that $3,597 was stolen from her account through an ATM overseas on Jan. 6.

"The person I was transferred to said, 'There have been several transactions on your card in London, England. They took three withdrawals for approximately $1,300 each,' " she told the Journal-Sentinel this week. "I was freaked out."

Lichtenberger said she was told she'd be mailed a fraud questionnaire that she needed to fill out and mail back to EPPIC.

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If the form was completed within 10 days of her call, she'd get a provisional refund to her account. Lichtenberger said she's still waiting for that refund.

Lichtenberger and state officials disagree on whether she responded fast enough to qualify for that refund. She said she first called EPPIC on Jan. 9, but that the company didn't mail her the form until Jan. 20.

Scialfa said Lichtenberger first called EPPIC Jan. 20 and didn't mail back the form within 10 days of that date, a prerequisite for getting a provisional refund.

He said EPPIC received Lichtenberger's completed fraud questionnaire Feb. 25, three weeks after her deadline.

Because Lichtenberger "wasn't very proactive," she may have to wait up to 90 days for EPPIC to complete its international fraud investigation before getting her money back, he said.

"I wish we could do something about it, but that is how the procedures work," he said.

Scialfa said of the 3,998 EPPIC accounts affected by the breach, the state was informed there were "a handful of confirmed cases" in which money was stolen.

He said EPPIC worked with victims in those cases to make them whole as quickly as possible. He said Lichtenberger was the first victim he heard of who had any problems getting their money back.

"EPPIC even went so far as to offer provisional credit to people who returned needed paperwork within 10 business days of their initial report of suspected fraud to EPPIC, despite the fact that they were under no obligation to do so," he wrote in an email.

"Though this is troubling for the individual, this is not an example of a systemic problem," he continued, by phone. "This is an example of someone who, unfortunately, didn't do things the way they needed to be done in a timely manner to get a provisional credit, which was offered to people. The investigation has to play out now to find out if she was a victim of fraud or not. Then she'll be made whole."

According to a notice on the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families website, EPPIC was able to reach 3,000 of the nearly 4,000 card holders to notify them of the breach affecting their cards and the spending restrictions imposed.

Scialfa said more than 3,000 replacement cards were sent out and that "only a small percentage" of them have not been activated. He said until Lichtenberger, no one expressed any concerns related to the breach or EPPIC's efforts to help victims.

Scialfa said anybody who receives child support payments through the Wisconsin child support system who has security concerns can choose to have money direct deposited into their bank accounts.

EPPIC card holders who believe they're victims of fraud or have questions should call EPPIC's customer service center at 877-253-3686.